US will help ‘guide’ trapped ships out of the Strait of Hormuz

American forces will start guiding merchant ships out of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, as President Donald Trump said the U.S. will “help free up” vessels trapped between dueling American and Iranian blockades around the strategic waterway. 

Trump announced in a Sunday afternoon social media post, saying that “Project Freedom” would start on Monday morning “Middle Eastern time.” Trump said that the United States will “guide” the trapped ships out of the strait. Soon after, U.S. Central Command confirmed it would be supporting the project, with a force that includes more than 100 aircraft, several guided-missile destroyers and 15,000 troops.

Trump’s announcement was vague on what the effort would look like in practice. CENTCOM’s statement did not specify what specific actions U.S. forces would take, instead saying that the “defensive mission” would involve coordinating the transit of the merchant vessels through the strait “to restore freedom of navigation for commercial shipping.” CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper said in the release that the U.S. will still “maintain the naval blockade.”

The effort marks a major shift in the actions around the important waterway — a major point of transit for oil and important chemicals — after both Iran and the United States enacted blockades around the strait in the wake of the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran that started on Feb. 28. A temporary ceasefire has been in effect since April 7. Diplomatic efforts to end the war have been ongoing over the weekend, with the two countries discussing an Iranian peace proposal. 

After Trump’s announcement, Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, said in a social media post that American involvement in managing traffic in the strait would violate the three-week-long ceasefire. 

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Source: Task & Purpose
Website: taskandpurpose.com